Part 9
Dawn had stayed up most of the night crying. Today, she remained in her room, no longer
crying, but still refusing to talk to Buffy.
When Buffy had come back inside the previous evening after talking to
Spike, she had explained the new state of affairs to Dawn. Dawn had protested, "Just because you're not
speaking to him, what does that have to do with me?! I didn't agree to any such thing!" Buffy wished she could get through to her sister. "Dawn, everything he's done for us, he did because
I'd requested his help. To Spike, you
and me and the scoobies, we're all connected.
The alliance being broken doesn't just mean me. None of us has the right to go to him for
help anymore."
Dawn asked, "But what if I'm not going to him for help? What if I just go to see him as a
friend?" "Dawn", said Buffy sternly,
"that was all included in the deal.
Total acceptance or a total break.
Even if you went, he wouldn't have any reason to treat you as a friend
now. That relationship is ended. Over.
Do you understand?" Dawn stared
at her desperately. "But… what about
his promise? He'd protect me till the
end of the world. You can't tell me he
would suddenly just break that promise!"
Buffy looked at Dawn sadly. "He isn't
breaking it. By making the decision I
did, I released him from his promise.
That's not the same as him breaking it.
He doesn't owe us anything."
That had been when Dawn had stomped off to her room to cry. Buffy had had no right to make that decision
for Dawn! For everyone! But Buffy had spoken for all of them,
whether she'd had the right to or not.
Dawn knew that Spike would have nothing to do with her now.
Buffy had hoped that Dawn would have calmed down by morning,
but she hadn't. Late afternoon, Buffy
was going out to meet the gang and explain the situation to them. She stopped by Dawn's room before leaving
and knocked on the door. No
answer. That wasn't a surprise. Dawn hadn't spoken to Buffy all day. "Dawn, I'm going to meet the scoobies. Do you want to come?" Usually Dawn would jump at the chance to be
included. "No! Leave me alone!" Buffy started to walk away, but turned back. "Dawn? You're not going to go try to see
Spike, are you?" This was the first
time she'd be leaving Dawn unattended since the final battle with Glory, and
Buffy was afraid Dawn would take advantage of it. Dawn snapped, "What difference would it make?" Dawn's voice was filled with pain. "You made
sure he wouldn't want to see me anyway!"
Buffy hated Dawn being this hurt and angry but was relieved that at
least she understood that Buffy's decision had had cut all ties with Spike. For the first time in a week, Buffy felt relatively
safe leaving Dawn alone. Buffy hoped
that Dawn would come to grips with this by the time Buffy got back home. Dawn just stayed in her room, hating Buffy.
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When Buffy got to the shop, the whole gang was already
there. Giles looked at her with
concern. "What's so important that you
needed us all here?" he asked. Buffy
stated, "Spike finally woke up. He came
to see me last night." "Yes, he came by
here too", said Giles, "shortly after you'd left." "And you didn't even call to tell me?" Buffy replied with
irritation. "Buffy, I knew he'd stop by
your house, to see Dawn if nothing else.
He'd been so sure that she must have died, since the world was still
here. He was despondent when he got
here, he was so sure he'd failed to protect her." Buffy just stared at Giles.
Spike hadn't said anything about thinking he'd failed Dawn. Then again, Buffy really hadn't given him a
chance to say much, had she?
Buffy pulled herself together and looked around at the
group. She explained her concerns, and
her discussion with Spike, and the resulting decision. Giles had calmed down a great deal after
having finally vented some of frustration at the vampire yesterday and now felt
rather bad for how he'd treated Spike.
Giles looked at Buffy sadly. He
knew that what he'd said to her had brought this on. "Buffy, I know what I said yesterday, but I didn't mean that you
should end all contact with Spike. That was a bit drastic, don't you
think? After all, he was quite
useful to have around." Buffy just
shrugged. "Spike was tired of just
being considered 'useful'. He was the
one who demanded a decision, one way or the other, total acceptance or
nothing. What other decision could I
have made?" Even so, Giles knew he was
at least partly responsible. If he
hadn't treated Spike that way, Giles was fairly sure that ultimatum would never
have arisen.
Willow offered gently, "He certainly doesn't deserves to be
abandoned by everyone. Especially after
what he did for Dawn." Tara agreed with
Willow. Anya spoke up, "Just because you've
decided you're not speaking to him, that doesn't mean the rest of us can't
do as we please. You don't speak for
all of us!"
Buffy looked frustrated.
"Xander, please talk some sense into your fiancée." "Uh, Buff… I didn't mean for you to cut off
all interaction either. Just to be
careful."
Anya stared at Xander.
"What did you do?!" Xander
stared at the floor. "I just reminded
Buffy that Spike could potentially be dangerous. I mean, he is evil."
Anya couldn't believe this. "You
did what?! Why would you say such awful
things. He's a hero. He was so brave and…" Xander cut her off,
extremely embarrassed. "That's
why I said those things Anya. You're so
proud of him, and I was… well… I was jealous."
He turned to Buffy. "I really
didn't mean that stuff. Not all of it
anyway."
Buffy glared at Xander, then back at Giles. "Well, it's a little late to be telling me
that you didn't MEAN it! I already told
him my decision."
Willow asked, "Well, couldn't you just tell him you changed
your mind?" Buffy was getting more and
more frustrated by how this was going.
"Weren't you listening?
That's exactly what he doesn't want.
All this flip-flopping back and forth.
He didn't just want a decision, he wanted me to stick to it for
once."
Anya spoke up again, "Well, the rest of us don't have
to!" But Xander understood. He looked over at Willow and Tara, then
turned his eyes back to Anya. "Spike
sees us as sort of an extension of Buffy.
If he's accepted an end to the truce, he'll see it as ending it with the
rest of us too." Anya shouted at him,
"How could you? How could you all be so
mean? And you think demons are
bad! Humans are worse!" She got up and ran out. "Anya!"
Xander got up. He looked back
quickly. "I'm sorry Buff." Then he turned and ran out after Anya.
Willow and Tara got up too.
Buffy looked at them. "You do
understand that this decision goes for all of us?" "Yeah", Willow responded, "doesn't mean we have to be happy about
it. I'm sorry Buffy. I'll go along with your decision, but only
because you've left us no choice. I
think it was wrong to turn Spike away after everything he's done for us." She
looked up with tears in her eyes. "Also,
after he'd been chipped, we'd sort of become the only friends he had. Did you even think about that? Did you think how much this could be hurting
him?" Tara spoke up quietly, "Buffy, you
may be right about Spike being potentially dangerous, but any influence you, or
any of us, might have had on his choices is also broken. Understand that everything has
consequences."
